Schedule: The nonconference games are far easier than last season, with only one opponent from a power conference (Stanford) and a healthy diet of Stephen F. Austin, Alcorn State, UC Irvine, Maine and South Alabama.

Conference: The West Coast Conference was already going to be good this season before BYU joined. And four of USD’s opening seven games are against the league’s cream: BYU (twice), Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga.

Outlook: If they win six games again, there really are major problems. But the soft nonconference schedule should help a youthful roster (Norris is the only senior) get some wins, and confidence, before the brutal start to league. Look for big years from the veteran Norris, a slimmer Gabriel and a refocused Manresa. This is a team with size, depth and motivation.

If USD men’s basketball coach Bill Grier was wondering whether things could possibly get worse than a 6-24 record and a 68-31 spanking in the regular-season finale, he got his answer a month later. They could.

The FBI was knocking on his door at 7 a.m. to inform him of a widespread game-fixing indictment involving USD all-time leading scorer Brandon Johnson, another former teammate and a former assistant coach.

The cruelest part: It was April. Basketball practice didn’t start for six months.

So Oct. 14 — the first day of practice for NCAA Division I — can’t come soon enough for Grier and his Toreros, a chance to step between powder blue sidelines at the Jenny Craig Pavilion and focus on another kind of court. A roundball refuge. Salvation in defensive slides.

“I’m looking forward to moving on and not looking in the rearview mirror,” said Grier, whose win total dropped from 22 to 16 to 11 to six in his four seasons at USD. “And I think these guys are, too. Certainly going through what we’ve gone through, it’s time to put stuff behind us. When official practice starts, I think in their minds they think it’s that time.

“This group has done a really good job hanging together. They’ve obviously been through a lot of adversity, but it’s made them stronger and tougher, made them closer … They’ve got a chip on their shoulder and they’re out to prove some things.”

It helps that they finally seem to have some forward motion, or at least things are no longer going in reverse.

The federal bribery case has ground to a halt in the courts, which for them means it is not constantly on the evening news. The entire team spent the summer on campus working out together, and several players — most notably posts Chris Manresa and Chris Gabriel — have showed marked improvement. And a manageable nonconference schedule could have them equaling last season’s win total by the end of November.